As you approach the giant hedge maze, make sure you have your wand at the ready, as this is the sight of your diligence training. The ministry looks for those of strong body and mind and what better way to showcase your strengths than by completing this challenge? Whether you’re working on your own or with your fellow ministry workers, you’ll be sure to feel accomplished after making it out unscathed.

The maze’s elaborate network of pathways is designed to test your perseverance, and also your preparedness for the unexpected. Dead ends and moving hedges won’t be the only obstacles you’ll face on the inside. Yes, the dangers in here are real and rightly so as you’ll likely face similar challenges out in the field. So step into the labyrinth and remember, constant vigilance.

OOC: Throughout the hedge maze, your charries will come into contact with many obstacles. It’s up to you where, when, and how many of these pop up during your RP but here is a list of obstacles you might encounter: Boggarts, Dementors, Blast-ended Skrewts, Devil’s Snare, swarm of pixies, Venomous Tentacula, and Bowtruckles

Lynley skirted around the event for a bit, making quiet, meticulous, mental observations about her...coworkers.

Indeed.

The thirty-one year old stopped at the edge of what looked like a maze, and thought she'd try her hand. Was she nervous? No. Did she think she'd make it through? Without a doubt. Lynley was competent enough for this...but she waited a minute to see if...any of these.....

...Coworkers.

Wanted to try it with her. She figured it might slow her down, but she was attempting to be social right now. Attempting was the key word. She wanted to get to know her her OWN employees and the other department heads and...that required her usual quiet sense of judgment to...tone down.

Ahem.

A maze.. Did other jobs have you running mazes? Taladona naturally had no idea given her lack of previous work, but she certainly wasn't against it. That was the thing about the girl, she was always up for taking a risk, getting her hands dirty and... having a bit of an adventure. In other words? This Maze had her name written all over it.

Pulling her wand out from behind her ear, Tala took a moment to steady herself before charging in, she needed to think this bit through, take her time, and maybe a partner wouldn't be bad. There was a woman, gorgeous and with dark hair nearby that seemed nice enough. Tala tucked back her hair and approached her.

"Hi, taking a shot at the maze?" The answer was most likely yes, but Tala thought it was a better opener than; Wanna be maze buddies?? so it would have to do.

SPOILER!!: Taladona, pls

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicole black

A maze.. Did other jobs have you running mazes? Taladona naturally had no idea given her lack of previous work, but she certainly wasn't against it. That was the thing about the girl, she was always up for taking a risk, getting her hands dirty and... having a bit of an adventure. In other words? This Maze had her name written all over it.

Pulling her wand out from behind her ear, Tala took a moment to steady herself before charging in, she needed to think this bit through, take her time, and maybe a partner wouldn't be bad. There was a woman, gorgeous and with dark hair nearby that seemed nice enough. Tala tucked back her hair and approached her.

"Hi, taking a shot at the maze?" The answer was most likely yes, but Tala thought it was a better opener than; Wanna be maze buddies?? so it would have to do.

Oh, look, a younger person.

Joy.

At least the girl's eyebrow game was strong. Lynley pulled out her wand from her holster and raised an eyebrow. "I believe I will be conquering the maze, yes." You could miss a shot.

There was no question that Lynley wouldn't conquer this...as she did everything else.

"But...if you're asking if I'll help you conquer it, I will." She eyed the young woman up and down. "I should introduce myself. Lynley Purcell, Transportation department head." Her job position was important. Therefore, it would accompany her introduction every time she did one. People could get over that, if they thought it was bigheaded.

..."And you are?"

...... Conquering? conquering? No, for real, did this chick just say she'd be conquering the maze? Tala had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling with amusement, because Tala couldn't take the word seriously at all.

"Er... Yeah." She was just gonna go with it, Tala was too used to weirdness and big egos to really be bothered, it was just funny, like, really funny that this woman was speaking like some... Bond villain or something. Actually, she was strangely reminded of Justine.

Oh, oh, oh. A Department Head? Tala suddenly felt the need to straighten her posture. "I'm Taladona Jordan," - she probably ought to mention her job title to, right? - "Junior Werewolf Support Advisor... I just started here." She smiled, she was... Well, really pleased about the job, it was the position she'd been hoping for and it felt... Good, vindicating that she'd managed to get it.

"So, um, Partners, then?" She asked, her green eyes warm and inviting as she spoke.

"Wonder if we'll find a tea party in there." Rhydian mused as he looked up at the tall hedges, hands clasped loosely behind his back and hat firmly on his head. It didn't look that intimidating, and he was rather fond of the idea of hedged gardens. Just, wasn't used to them indoors was all.

Sniffing the air, he shrugged his shoulders helplessly. There was nothing to be discerned from out here, so that left them only one option. In. Because the only other option was going back to the food table, and needless to say the organizers of the orientation had already been giving him strange looks laced with warning when he had departed the long table with his fifth plate of food.

That was when he had went in search of some other entertaining company, and low and behold, had come across his partner, equally as bored and seemingly needing to blow something up. Hedge mazes were good for that sort of thing. Made a nice 'poof' sound, and made dead ends slightly less infuriating.

Reaching over, he hooked his elbow on Lex's shoulder and leaned against her a bit, tipping his head down to eye the maze over the rim of his sunglasses. "Or a snogging couple." More than likely the later.

These exercises caught his attention, but it was the maze that held his interests. It was mystery in every corner. There could be a dead end or an unsuspecting creature. He could be safe one second, he could be running for his life the next.

It thrilled Kennedy Escalante.

Standing in front of the entrance, and not spotting anyone familiar he decided to go in it alone. After all, if he did meet any of his colleagues they could team up. But as for now he was going in on his own. Fun.

Okay she got this!

....

Okay maybe she don't got this.

A maze! A freaken maze, for Merlin sakes! This was beyond excited to go through this maze, but keeping in mind the obstacles set forth Peggy knew she had to have a plan in order to get through it successfully. Or better yet..alive. The last time Peg was in a corn maze she was lost in it for hours until the amusement park closed for the night and the officials had no choice but to go looking for her.

Glancing around and biting her lip, she notice a very handsome young man daring to go into the maze as well. Surely he was going to succeed in this maze, he looked like he had it all figured out. Well not literally but, his face said it all. "Hey you!" Peggy hussled to him "Maze looks interesting. Mind if I join you?" She asked followed but a sudden yet quick smile, just for a friendly reminder she's not gonna bite. Peggy wasn't going to go down alone this time!

Foot inside the maze, Kennedy paused when he was all of a sudden joined. So much for being a lone-wolf in this thing. It didn't matter, it was always better to have someone watch his back...if this chick would do that.

"Certainly does." Interesting was the reason he was here. "Sure if you can keep up." He eyed her. She seemed fit. Maybe a fast runner. Clumsy too. He was probably going to have to help her out more than she would him, but he was in for the challenge. "I'm Kennedy, by the way."

'Hey' wouldn't work in a task like this.

A sigh of relief this big man allowed her to joing him. Phew! Totally gonna rock this and actually live to tell the story.

Side note: If something really creepy and dangerous pops out, she's the first one leaving!

"Pssh, I can totally keep up. I got wings on my feet." Not really, but Peggy was a pretty fast runner. Again if something creepy and dangerous pops out, she's the first one leaving. Operation stand behind the human shield and look like you know what you're doing. Okay Peggy's got this! "Cool. I'm Peggy."

NOT Piggy.

It's Peggy.

"After you, Kennedy." She played with her gum for a bit.

Following his lead..

SPOILER!!: Tala

Quote:

Originally Posted by nicole black

...... Conquering? conquering? No, for real, did this chick just say she'd be conquering the maze? Tala had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling with amusement, because Tala couldn't take the word seriously at all.

"Er... Yeah." She was just gonna go with it, Tala was too used to weirdness and big egos to really be bothered, it was just funny, like, really funny that this woman was speaking like some... Bond villain or something. Actually, she was strangely reminded of Justine.

Oh, oh, oh. A Department Head? Tala suddenly felt the need to straighten her posture. "I'm Taladona Jordan," - she probably ought to mention her job title to, right? - "Junior Werewolf Support Advisor... I just started here." She smiled, she was... Well, really pleased about the job, it was the position she'd been hoping for and it felt... Good, vindicating that she'd managed to get it.

"So, um, Partners, then?" She asked, her green eyes warm and inviting as she spoke.

Lynley wasn't sure if the young woman was taking this maze seriously. Hmph. She wondered what department she was in. Not Transportation, she would know the face from all of the files she'd looked at recently. Over and over again, too.

She already knew all the names of her employees.

Taladona, apparently, Jordan's posture change was visibly notable. Oh, Lynley was happy her job title had done that. It made her smirk. "Ah...werewolf support..." they needed one of those? Lynley didn't smile, but she did nod her head at the woman. "I can tell." About the just starting thing. She still had that youthful, excited glow about her. "Not a bad thing." She said quickly, gruffly, before the woman could take what she said the wrong way,

"And yes....we can partners. You need to be quick on your toes to keep up with me. I will wait for you if you fall behind, though...." since this was a team building exercise.

But it was against Lynley's nature. In real life, she'd be on her own, for her own.

FINALLY it was over. The last of the guests who were meant to be there had arrived--presumably--leaving there to be absolutely no reason for her to remain at that desk any longer. Shoes left back at said desk, consider her done. Late people wouldn't get their wands weighed nor would they get their packages and you know what? That wasn't the end of the world. It just kept on spinning, funny that. That being the case, Lex would find better ways of occupying her time. Ways like this maze with her partner who actually had some very horrible ideas about what awaited them inside.

Lex glanced up at him, marginally unimpressed by her options. "Not sure which one would make my skin crawl faster." Poofy tea parties or public displays of affection. It was a toss up at the end of the day. Either could have been the worse under a given circumstance.

"Congratulations, you've almost convinced me not to go in." Only almost. Lex had heard THINGS from people walking by the desk and even from Sky. There was something epic inside, maybe more than one thing, otherwise why put it up in the first place. Then again....that food table....had successfully turned her off her meal. Who the hell made those topics and why did they think she'd care to know the answer to any of those prompts?

"Come on, we're burning daylight."

Kai approached the giant hedge maze with curiosity and her wand at the ready. This would be their 'Diligence Exercise', a test of vigilance and competence. It would be a magical obstacle course with only merlin knew what. That was like field work right? You just never knew what would happen or what you would see so you had to be ready. She was ready to take on whatever challenges awaited her though, with that thought she took her first step disappearing into the hedges.

Rhydian spared his partner a knowing grin. "Cept, you could never deny your curiosity." So really, he could say all the things in the world and she would still find a reason to go in.

Dropping his arm from her shoulder, he intertwined his fingers with hers and tugged her towards the maze opening at her prompt. "Only problem with that little slogan, is that daylight burns itself." A grin to her that was lost in the shadow of the entryway. "After all, the sun is a great ball of blazing fire!"

He had a point there and she said as much with a roll of her eyes. The fact she wanted to know what was inside was all the reason she was going to go in....despite couples and fancy tea. Really though, those weren't what they'd find inside, right? After all that time standing at that desk it would be SUCH a let down and she'd need a word with whoever organized this thing. Serious words.

Lex went willingly enough at his tugging, decidedly not bothered by the hand holding...but the words that spilled out did it. They had her stopping just as quick as she'd started walking while she fixed him with a look. "Keep that up and you'll be doing this maze with someone else." SUCH a Ravenclaw he was for someone that didn't EVEN go to the school. There was a reason she didn't talk to that sort unless she had to, he was proving it right now.

No use standing around though, Rhydian was a quick learner afterall. "This one lady walked out looking like she'd seen a nundu up close. S'not likely but something must have spooked her. Best to have our wands out." Hers was already drawn and dying for some action. Even a fake Nundu would be appreciated. A little cuddly thing she could sneak home...............................unless Rhydian got to it first. This could be a problem.

Despite her obvious disapproval, Rhydian's first and foremost response was to give her one of his best grins. Didn't help the lighting wasn't great for it, but he was sure she could see it. And probably best she couldn't see it's full genuine nature. She would for sure abandon him if she did.

So, he turned and set his feet forward and stopped almost abruptly as she had. "Whats a nundu?" Serious question here. And a concerning one. He didn't like all creatures and it was either that or a mad-woman's muttering of 'no-do'. Which, would be equally concerning.

Holding onto Lex's hand, Rhydian leaned forward and peered around the first corner seeing nothing but green and look at that....more green.

Somehow he seemed to have missed the severity in her tone--actually...no....no he didn't. That was just Rhydian. Sometimes she could swear he thought that grinning was the answer to most all problems and while it never hurt to nod and smile sometimes, other times it just got another roll of her eyes, this one more playful than the first. Past experiences taught her that there was no knocking the Ravenclaw out of him. It was just ALWAYS there even though it shouldn't be.

Now given the fact she thought they were all good to go, the sudden pull back actually sent a jolt up her hand. Ow. Warn a girl next time, Merlin.

Alexa's gaze rose to meet his in obvious question before he asked his own question. "You're kidding right? Only messing with me because I told you to stop being so smart." Obviously that was it, why else wouldn't he know what a Nundu was?

Being the less cautious of the two, Lex nearly pulled away when he opted to check behind the hedge before proceeding. This wasn't going to become a habit, not if he wanted to keep her hand and not when there was clearly nothing there. See? Just bare wall. She pulled him down the walk way, insisting they keep moving even before she went back to her explanation. "The Nundu's the most dangerous creature in the wizarding world. Kinda like....muggle leopard things only waaaaaay bigger and more powerful and no less than 100 wizards have every taken one down."

Brilliant things they were. "This one idiot tried raising one, got himself outted when he forgot to stun it one day."

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Cause, he didn't. And, usually when he was he looked the part. She got serious brows for that, a stark contrast to the overtly confident grin that had been in place a few spare moments ago.

Still, he let himself be pulled along. Eventually his feet caught up to her pace and he settled into a walk beside her. A walk that turned into a trot so he could be in front of her, at which point he turned to face her as he walked backwards. It was just easier to see her this way, make sure she wasn't pulling his leg or whatnot.

"So....it's a cat." Well Merlin's fuzzy beard, wasn't that just lovely! "A cat is the most dangerous thing in the wizarding world?"

A pause, and then laughter. Absolute and complete laughter that would have echoed off the walls had they been made of stone. As it was, the foliage seemed to absorb the sound in a strange hollowness that had him sobering some. The mirth remained on his face though as he took a few more steps before falling back in line with her.

"You know cats purr, right?" Hardly a qualification for being fearsome and dangerous.

It was all too evident he wasn't joking but that didn't make her any more willing to believe than she'd been earlier. Might have asked what they taught in his Care of Magical Creatures lessons but then she remembered the class was optional. Perhaps he'd opted out of it altogether. It was the only explanation now.

Somehow, she'd gone from pulling to once again being pulled. Hard to say when it happened exactly but Rhydian was now taking the lead again...unless it did't count if you walked backward. Did it?

While they walked, Lex tried to gauge his reaction to her explanation of the Nundu. She was aware of his fascination with felines and the way he didn't typically know what was good for him but him laughing was a whole different can of flobberworms. "Not a cat but a member of the feline family." There was a difference, much like there was a difference between cats and her kneazle. Most just seemed to disregard this fact.

"And I'm all too familiar with the fact they purr. Felix does it all the time--you remember Felix. My vicious little ball of fur that dreams of taking your face off one day? To think he's only the size of my candy bag. Now imagine him being about the size of my apartment building with sharper claws, bigger teeth and a smaller tolerance for you." When you consider all of those, it made everything fall into the right perspective, yeah?

"Besides that, it's powerful enough to spread disease and death on villages just by breathing on them." She tilted her head at him, feigning curiosity while hardly able to keep the subtle hint of amusement away. "Correct me if I'm wrong, purring requires breathing at some point, doesn't it?"

If she thought she was helping, she really wasn't. The only thing he explanation did was to have him laugh again, a bit louder. "Everyone has a small tolerance for me." His grin turned fond for the briefest of moments. "Except you."

He would have acted upon those words too, but a certain 'crawling out of skin' had been mentioned earlier and he really didn't want to be left alone in the maze. Was less fun that way. So, he settled for tipping his head to the side and listening to the rest of her rather tall tale.

"So, what you are telling me is that an expression and gesture of happiness and contentment will bring death and disease?" Because, that's what purring was, right? His head was shaking again. "Typical cat."

Stretching his back, Rhydian paused at a 'T' intersection. "I should like to see one of these fuzz brains one day. The bigger they are, the harder they fall after all."

See, now he was just exaggerating to make a point. "I can't be the only person in all of London that proper tolerates you and you know it." Rhydian was many things and hard to like COULD have been one of those things except for the fact it wasn't. Guy was too happy. Too laid back. If you didn't count his persistence and know-it-all nature on the odd occasion then it became hard to imagine someone not liking him.

Picky people might have a hard time but they wouldn't drift into low tolerance either. Nah.

Lex could tell him he was about to run into the up-coming wall but she preferred him getting a reason to walk front facing again so she kept her mouth shut on that issue, choosing to grin at his snide remark. "Lovely isn't it? I'm sure it means to cause happiness and stuff," except not really, "it just doesn't come out that way."

Seemed they'd gotten to the wall and he stopped on his own. Shame that but there was always a next time. "Unless you can round up 99 other men, I don't see you making it fall, I see common sense kicking in at the last minute and you running your butt back to safety." And with that she decided they were going right. Why? Because she was right. It fit perfectly. "Unless you stood there and let it kill you in which case I'd have to bring you back to kill you myself."

Rhydian couldn't keep from scoffing. "Pffft. I don't exaggerate." Was that an exaggeration in and of itself? Perhaps. Who was keeping track, really?

This time she got a roll of the eyes. "And I'm sure Felix only meant to hug me when I first met him." No, he would not acknowledge his part in that mess. Just, proving a point. "Like I said, typical cat."

And so they were going right. Good by him. He couldn't be too fussed either way. Sure the point was to get out of the maze, but most of the fun came in exploring. Every dead end if need be.

"Want to know the wonderful thing about me?" Or one of them? There were just too many to go through right now. "I'm not just a man." That and his common sense didn't always work. Theories were more his strong-point, but she already knew that. A shrug left his shoulders. "At least I can say I've been there, done that. Even if it does end in a tale of fleeing. Some battles are better left for another day."

His step slowed and her words nearly missed him. There was something, a faint buzzing noise that seemed to be growing in intensity. His brow furrowed, even as he tried to grin, an interesting task to say the least. "I'm touched to know you'd be that angry at me."

Yes, anger could be taken as a compliment. Yes indeed.

Now, why the buzzing?

This entire orientation and all the exercise totally smacked of Rainey, Dale had decided. Even if the guy hadn't had a hand in all of this (which he doubted, as he was a department head and all), Dale was still getting strong Rainey vibes. Made sense, though, because of the nature of his department and all.

In any case, Dale was up for a challenge, sure. The break from work had put him in the mood to throw himself right back into the fold. Though usually he wasn't really much of an action sort of guy, it didn't mean he wasn't capable. Sometimes it was a nice change of pace from dealing with mountains of scrolls of parchment and more papercuts than you could shake a quill at.

Dale paused at the entrance of the maze, not exactly tempted to go barging in immediately, preferring to hang back, draw his wand, and quickly go over the spells he would most likely need. He wondered idly how many Gryffindor-types had already barged their way through most of the obstacles and were well in the thick of it. Whatever worked for them, he supposed, as he regarded the entrance in the hegdes.

Olly definitely was NOT one of those Gryffindor-types.

So not. Instead she was still a little hesitant to enter the maze. Which was dumb, really. She'd already gotten the job. There was no way they would fire her if for whatever reason she couldn't finish this task. Or was there? Was this a test? Was this a requirement to actually be allowed to start work? Was she going to have to stay here UNTIL she'd completed the task?!

Tightening her grip on her wand, Olly took a few steps forward, eyes on the maze itself. Her uncertainty was completely uncalled for, really. She'd passed all the exams. Even the ones where she'd had to use her wand. It wasn't like she was completely useless or anything. So really. This was stupid.

She should just go in.

If only there wasn't someone ELSE waiting outside the maze too. "You going in?" Her tone of voice was void of any emotion, except maybe a hint of impatience. Like. He was keeping her from going in. And no she couldn't just walk past him. Nope. That would be rude. Or something.

Being an Unspeakable meant Kat was used to most challenges and obstacles. So when they told her she had to do a Diligence Exercise with all new and old employees of the Ministry, she felt rather bored. She could take up any sort of challenge they sent her way any day of the week, she thought to herself with confidence.

With her wand in her hand she slowly made her way to the maze, a bored look upon her face as she gazed over a couple that was talking by the entrance before walking in, flipping her platinum-grey hair over her shoulder. Yet, she had an attitude.